Fresno County cities gain access to infectious materials lab ordinance

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Lab legislation is officially underway in Fresno County.

Tuesday, the board of supervisors passed a memorandum of understanding for the infectious materials ordinance.

"With cities that want the Fresno County Department of Public Health to assist and actually do inspections of unlicensed laboratories, we can actually do that now in the city jurisdiction," said Joe Prado, assistant director for the Fresno County Department of Public Health.

Joe Prado says cities must sign off on the agreement for the county to help with regulation.

"When there's a city officer that's concerned or has some questions, they can bring us in, and we can now enforce this ordinance in there. It will be a more expedited process than what we had to deal with previously," said Prado.

What they dealt with previously, the Reedley lab found in December 2022 because of a green garden hose.

The building on I Street had refrigerators filled with chemicals, human blood, COVID-19 and pregnancy tests, and about 1,000 mice.

Zieba was at the forefront of the lab fallout and says this agreement should create a smoother pathway for dealing with any similar facilities in the future.

But she says there's still more work to be done since the Reedley lab was the first of its kind to be discovered in the U.S.

"Our goal is to change the national landscape, to really work on national laws that will keep the entire country safe," said Zieba.

Prado says the county's next step is to provide training for each city regardless of whether it signs on to the agreement.

As far as the lab in Reedley, Zieba says there are still about half a million COVID and pregnancy tests that need to be removed. However, they are under the jurisdiction of the state health department, and it's unclear when that removal may happen.

For news updates, follow Brianna Willis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.